


Wrath

by kisslandsballoons



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Demons, F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-15 08:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5778397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisslandsballoons/pseuds/kisslandsballoons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two decades ago, the gates of heaven opened and the Valkyries fell and ripped open the sky, pouring onto the humans below. Mankind had rebuilt itself,but more on guard then ever.With eyes like the Valkyries , I had always been an outcast. Never really accepted, but always kept at an arms length. It was only when I met him that I understood who I was. But I never learned where I belonged.But it wasn't my choice. It never was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everlasting Gods

**7:36 pm January 7th 1994**

**Somewhere in Moscow, Russia.**  

 

It was dark. It always was. Blindness had always been familiar to Matvei, ever since the fateful accident in his childhood, he only saw the world in shades of black. He never expected to see the warmth of the glittering sun he had been told about,nor expected to see the blue calmness of the unwavering ocean. And he didn’t. Not until he met Iskra. He felt it all with her, could finally see the rays of the unrelenting sun, scorching and tangible.

 He was bright, a shining beacon in the sea of cimmerian black. Their love for science had brought them together, and now, it tore them apart. Matvei’s disability had served as a deterrent for them as they climbed to the top of the science world, but they overcame it, as they had faced every problem together. Always and forever they thought. Until now.

 A breakthrough in medicine they believed. Naive to think the miracle they had made would be used to save millions as they originally wished. No it was no miracle, a miracle was never a double edged sword. It could save the world, or even destroy it.

 But it was too late for that now, Matvei thought. He could hear the wind howling as it tore through the streets. He could taste the soft tangy metallic taste of blood in his mouth as the poison swirled through him, cutting access to each limb in every minute. He could speak, could still tell her.

 The icy frost of the slowly decreasing temperature of the room froze him, and he spoke.

 “Iskra” He said it with such reverence, as it would be the last time he would ever say her name.

 “It’s done Matvei, it’s started” She whispered brokenly next to him. He could feel her warmth slowly fading away and he shuddered as her light disappeared at the same rate that the poison ran rampant through them.

 “ _Shinjū_ _solnyshko_ ” He laughed, a hard brittle sound that cracked his voice.

 “ _Shinjū zvezda moya_ ” She gasped, the smallest of smiles lighting her face.

 

And so they let out their last breaths, dying together.

 

**9:27 am January 12th 1994**

**Somewhere in Florence, Italy**

 

“We everlasting gods,what chilling blows we suffer—” whispered Clara, gazing at the ruins of a city that once stood tall, a beacon of both history and wealth, crumbled to ashes. The screams had ended, no one left to scream. The angels of hell had come, ripping from the sky they once protected, once sheltered in their blazing heat only to be burnt alive in their wicked flames.

 “Only you would say something like that now, ever the literary genius” Muttered Katsuo from behind her, shaking his head at the woman who had raised him. Her stomach was taut and rounded, bulging with new life.

 A sister, he thought. A ghost of a smile danced around on his lips. The moon glinted rays of white light, bathing the leveled city in fluorescent glow. He stood tall among the blood coated rubble, lean and lithe, and contrary to what others believed - he was powerful. A master trickster, fast as a sleight of hands which was why he was able to dodge the torrent of knives that whizzed past him with rapid ferocity.

 Plants writhed in between the cracks of the collapsed buildings, _acacia jaune_ \- an invasive plant that gave no mercy as it wrapped the fallen city in it’s choking hold.

 Clara tsked as she fell back, dodging the knives faster than he did.

 “You’re getting slower Katsuo, it’s disappointing” She laughed out, completely at ease.

Katsuo grunted, surveying the surrounding areas for the sloppy attacker. The remaining people of Florence had begun to starve, local supermarkets crushed by the storms sent by the valkyries.

Now they had resorted to eating each other. A small movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A knife glinted in the morning sun, and Katsuo surged forward, years of practice imbedded in the memory of his muscles. He twisted, disarming the person who had attempted to kill him and his mother.

 He froze, blade a breath away from the pale skin of the young boy’s neck. _A child_. Katsuo’s heart trembled, something close to a growl escaped him as he looked into the frail boy’s eyes glazed with murderous hunger.

 

“P-per favore” the boy dragged out, heart beating frantically against the hard material of the torn rags he wore. It was his mother’s, and he took it from her dead body after he dug her from underneath the broken shambles that used to be their home.

 He shouted her name for hours, nails torn with blood as he searched for her, throat raw with desperation. He heard her, he didn’t know how, her gasps rattling her frail frame. He kept hope and when he finally unearthed her, he found the animals that had been eating away at her dead carcass shattering the hope he held close.

“ _Mama_ ” he wailed out, holding her close for hours, dried blood staining the clothes he wore.

“ _Che io darò questo amore?_ ” he sang softly, and he wondered really, who would he give his love to? He would die soon he knew. But he would live, live as long as he could, for his mama-only for his mama.

 Katsuo stared at the young frail boy, staring into the burning gaze of the boy who looked older than his young age. His eyes were a dark brown, littered with flecks of different colors, an expression of tiredness, as if he was tired of living but would fight until the very end. Something tugged at Katsuo’s cold heart, and felt something he hadn’t felt for a long time.

 Sympathy.

 He had been in this boys shoes before, the war had torn his family from him but he had Clara. Always did.

 A slender hand touched his shoulder, and he leaned back into the warmth.

 “I understand” said Clara from behind him and he set the boy on his feet, eyes flashing in pain as he saw the boy was unable to support himself due to the lack of food. He rummaged in the pocket of his black coat, and pulled out an apple and a water bottle- not much but it was all he had. At the moment.

 He offered it to the child, and with weary eyes he took it, biting into it with startling ferocity.

 “Remarkable” Clara said, voice tinged with the remnants of a long ago accent. Katsuo looked at her, finally _seeing_ her. She stood in her usual black jacket and jeans, thick dark hair flowing around her in waves. Her eyes almost the same shade of her skin, a dark brown which glinted with curiosity.

 “His eyes are extraordinary, he could be one of _them_ ” Clara kneeled, looking into the child with newfound excitement. Katsuo’s stomach sank, knowing where this was going. He knew what _they_ were. Valkyries. The ones who destroyed Florence as they did thousands of years ago to Carthage.

 “Sono Clara.Egli è Katsuo” She spoke, butchering the gorgeous italian language. Katsuo rolled his eyes.

 “I can s-speak Inglese, no big problema” The child spoke, relaxing slightly now knowing they weren’t going to kill him. Katsuo snickered at the shocked Clara.

 “What’s your name?” asked Clara.

 “Bambino demone. Demon child. What you want” The child spoke roughly, raising his chin high with arrogance. “My papa said to,” he stuttered as he tried to find the right word. “kill me” he found the right word. He gestured to his eyes.

 “And your mother?”Katsuo asked him, genuinely curious.

 Pain flickered in his eyes.

 “ _Raphael_ ”

 Katsuo and Clara looked at each other, a secret conversation flashing between them. They nodded.

 “Come with us Raphael, and you’ll never go hungry again” Clara clasped her hands together, like a prayer, voice low with persuasion, warm and safe. And Raphael wanted that, to be warm and safe, to never go hungry again. He looked at the demolished apple, wondering if he ate the seeds-would he still be hungry?

 “Come with us Raphael, and you’ll slay the ones who took your mother”

 Raphael jerked, taut like a bow string. He could still remember the winged angels that took the sky and bathed it in blood. Bathed in his mother’s blood.

 So he nodded. Yes. He would do it.

 Clara looked back at Katsuo, rigid with barely covered pain.

 “You remember this Katsuo?”She asked remembering the day she found him in Tokyo exactly like the boy in front her. But Katsuo was no boy. Not anymore. War had turned him into the honed warrior he was now.

 “Any news of Matvei and Iskra?” She asked, taking the small boy into her arms, running a gentle hand over his dirty hair.

 “Confirmed”

 Clara frowned, they weren’t supposed to die. But she had no sympathy for them, it was them that brought the Valkyries to the earth, took them from the heavens. Brought forward the wrath of the mighty. And thus they deserved to die.

 “Are Jalaal and Ahmed still in Mecca?” she wondered out loud. Mecca had been spared, as well as other holy sites in different religions.

 Katsuo shrugged, “We should head back to base, regroup and restart”

 She nodded, setting the boy on his feet.

 “I’ll meet you there. He needs to say goodbye”She gestured to the boy and Katsuo nodded, a moment of understanding passing between them.

 “Say goodbye Raphael. We’ll meet in front of the Basilica di San Lorenzo at nightfall.”

The boy nodded and walked away taking in the city of his birth for the last time.

 “Clara” Katsuo said, voice grim. “Are we fighting a war?” He needed to know, to prepare.

 She nodded, grasping the long demon scythe that had appeared from nowhere. Katsuo breathed in sharply, shocked at the demon that had appeared. Shadows covered the blade, interlocking and writhing and whispers of death quivered in his mind. He remembered his training and shook it away, not taking his eyes away from the infernal tattoos that twisted and slithered on her face. Her hair turned even darker, eyes taking on a red hue. Her half form had always been sinister, and even more eerie underneath the dark sky.

 “They will lead us.” Clara’s voice turned an octave deeper, and he knew he wasn’t just talking to Clara anymore. He bowed his head in respect.

 “Abbadon” He acknowledged. But it was as if the demon couldn’t hear him.

 “And the girl will lead them all” Clara whispered, foretelling the story of a girl who would lead them into victory against the winged monsters that had burned the world into ashes.

 


	2. Brethren

“ _ Shinjū _ ” I gestured to the presentation I was currently explaining, “also called double suicide in English, refers to a group suicide of people bound by love.” I walked around the large room, feeling the beady eyes of everyone’s stare.

“It is usually preceded by a small poetic journey, where the lovers think of happier and better moments of their lives known as  _ michiyuki  _ ” The psychology course unusually centered on suicide, and my partner Tasha and I had been given the topic history of suicide in Japan.

“ _ Seppuku _ , on the other hand refers to the ritualistic suicide by disembowelment originally reserved for samurai, the military nobility of the Japanese. They used this form of suicide usually to die in ‘honor’ and not in enemy possession or if they thought they committed shameful acts.” 

I finished my part of the presentation, catching the eye of Tasha, who continued on.I took my seat, watching in awe as Tasha eloquently took the attention of the class, even those who had sleeping.

Tasha and I rarely ever spoke, her usually hanging out with the rest of her  _ popular _ friends, and never really had time for me. The project didn’t change that, and I knew the minute the class finished, we would go our separate ways. 

But I wanted friends I thought wistfully. I’d been alone for so long, and I wanted to have fun, do the normal stuff friends usually did. But I couldn’t, I knew how I looked, or rather-  _ how my eyes looked _ . Everybody around me thought it, and sometimes I did too.  

Thought I was a monster, that I was a Valkyrie. I had been cleared by the higher ups, but they monitored me often. 

After all, monsters with my eyes had torn the world into chaos two decades ago. The human race rebuilt themselves, but didn’t forget. No we were reminded, humans weren’t at the top of the food chain, they never were. I shuddered against the icy blow of the air conditioning snuggling deeper into the warm black coat I wore, my usual color. 

Virginia in the winter was without mercy, strong winds and numbing breath that rolled over the land. The weather was closely monitored, to warn us if the Valkyrie’s were coming. Before the world had ended, we ignored the signs, the cold and the never ending rain. Then came the blistering heat that pierced and dried out most of the people.

“Great work Katya, can I speak to you after class?”Asked Professor Beckett, blinding white teeth opened wide. I nodded, snapped out of my reverie. Everyone’s eyes turned to us, and I had the distinct urge to roll into a ball and hide from everyone. Mr. Beckett was an anomaly in the university, quite young- almost too young to be a teacher. The girls of the school had a pathetic school girl crush on him, and often followed him like starstruck high school girls. College, I snorted.

Unfortunately for me, he always gave off a weird vibe, almost plastic in nature. Whenever I heard him talk, I would cringe inside. He looked fake, almost like a ken doll. Superficial, and  _ definitely _ not attractive.

Blonde hair layered in perfect waves,  blue eyes and tan unblemished skin? Perfect, just a little too perfect.

I heard the distant sound of a bell and I stood and weaved my way through the chattering college students.

“I can get her to do a keg-stand, maybe I can cop a feel-” said a tall guy named Brandon, who shut up when he saw me.

“Hey Katya, there’s a party at Stanford’s this Friday, you can come if you want” Brandon was a renowned party animal, and a big fan of the ladies. Rightfully so, with a face like a cherub and a smile so sexy it was sinful, it was no brainer. Strong cheekbones and a body he clearly worked on, it was a wonder why he wasn’t a model. He sent me one smile, and I almost caved.

I shook my head, “Sorry got plans”

He sent a puppy dog look, and I shook my head. “I’ll see if I can, but I’m not making any promises” I knew I wasn’t going.

His face lightened and he threw out a thanks before walking back to his friends. Making my way to the Mr.Beckett’s desk, I  noticed he was staring at me the entire time. Hands in my  pockets, I asked.

“What can I do for you Mr.Beckett?”

He sent me a smile that was meant to dazzle and my stomach sunk.

“As a teacher, it's my duty to help students whenever I can. To guide them, to be friends with them to make learning a better experience”

I had no idea where he was going with this. I clenched my fingers in my pocket and I sent him a smile that I hoped didn’t look like a grimace. He ran a hand through his hair, smiling all the while, eyes twinkling. He leaned forward in his chair,

“Majoring in psychology, I can notice different things” He took a breath, and my stomach lurched.  _ Did he know _ ?”Which is why, as your friend and not just a teacher, it’s come to my attention that you’ve been excluding and distancing  yourself from others. May I ask why?”

I almost let out a sigh of relief. Was this all he wanted to talk about? I was alone, and I wanted for it to stay that way. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Mr.Beckett, what do you mean?”I furrowed my eyebrows, and tried to look confused.

He sighed, “Since starting this university,you’ve been unable to commit to a single fully functioning relationship, and have no active friends. You only talk to  people in certain situations like group work or projects. You keep people at an arm's length, may I ask why?”

I didn’t answer, how could he have noticed  _ all _ of that? It seemed my ability to blend in wasn’t working. It probably meant I’d have to drop the course, as much as I enjoyed it, I had to protect Natalia.

“When asked about anything that has to do with your past, you skirt the conversation till it no longer focuses on you. You intentionally wear darker themed clothing to make yourself blend in with the crowd, and you rarely ever say more than a few words.Let me ask again Katya, why?”

I opened my mouth but no words came out. My throat closed up and I felt bare,  _ god _ so bare, naked and open. Painfully so. So I swallowed, and avoided it again.

“I have no idea what you mean Mr.Beckett, but if that’s all, I’ll be going home now.” My voice,

trembled and I felt the same as that day three years ago. Alone. Pathetic.

He nodded, frowning slightly, deep lines marring the smooth skin. It looked out of place, and I was stunted again with his physical perfection. A ken doll.  _ Unnatural. _

I made my way out, nearly skewered by a man much taller than I was. I caught myself on the lapels of his jacket and I nearly ripped my hand away from the heat radiating from him. He was hard defined muscles, covered by a thin black shirt and I wanted to bury myself in him, wanting to surround myself in his rich warmth.He smelled provocative, the fresh scent of petrichor and freshly chopped wood. An unusual combination of both roughness and delicate sensuality and I nearly gasped with delight at the rich aroma.  

His face was angular, a long straight nose, set atop a pair of lips that looked so soft, that if I leaned forward we would kiss.  _ What the hell was I thinking! There would be no kissing, not at all! _

His eyes burned through mine, greener than plains of grass that littered the Virginia countryside.Black luscious hair fell across his face and I wanted to run my hand through it, tug at it while we-  _ No _ . I could feel his firm muscular body pressed against mine in all the right places, tingles erupting where we touched.

I remembered where I was and I shuddered, chastising myself for forgetting.

I sent him a weak smile, “Sorry” and walked away, feeling the eyes of a million people when in reality, there was no one.

Running against the downpour of rain was no fun, but even as the cold seeped into my bones, I still could feel the heat. His heat. Setting alive every nerve ending with blazing glory and burning me alive from the inside. He was gorgeous, a cruel edge to it. I had the impression of an animal, a lion, a graceful predator. But I didn’t know him, the incredulity. I wanted to know him, wanted to know his body-. I had to stop. 

By the time I was home, the rain had fortunately stopped but I was soaked with water, a shivering mess of wet books and papers.  Teeth chattering, I opened the door with shaky fingers.

“Natalia?” I shouted out, leaving my wet shoes out. My home was small, but it was all I could afford since it was only Nat and I. Ever since her  _ accident - _ , my throat closed up. I had to try to clear up everything so she wouldn’t fall down, since she was blind.

“I’m about to order takeout, and if you don’t get your butt out, you won’t get none!”I teased, takeout was all I could give us, we both knew. Silence. I furrowed my brows, dread creeping onto my heart like a slow and dangerous storm. There was something in the air, I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed it before. It slithered in the air, tension taut like a string. And then the silence broke.

An ear shattering scream resonated from Natalia’s room. I dashed toward it, heart heavy with terror. My shoulders shook with fright, and time slowed down.

_ Go! _ my mind screamed.

I slammed open her room door to see her writhing on the floor, eyes crying blood. I fell beside her taking her into my arms and I sang her a lullaby.

“What do you see?”I asked, staring at the porcelain fragile girl. She was pale, blue veins straining against her skin. A swean of sweat glinted on her forehead, and her blonde hair tight with knots.

“ _ It’s started, _ ” She croaked out, back arching at an inhuman angle,” _ they’ve come for you! _ ”another scream. More tears of blood. This was one of her more violent predictions. Though I had no idea if what she would say was about me or not.

“ _ Towers of blood, feathers of ashes _ ,” Natalia sobbed, throat raw with desolate pain,“  _ they’ve broken free of the chains of the sky _ ” she wailed. Incoherent mumbles followed and I thought the worst was over when she looked at me, with red rimmed eyes. I froze and my heart lurched at the horrible gift she was given. To be unable to see what was around you, only to see what laid there for you was a curse.

“ _ They’ve taken the skies and they call for you. Call for their brethren _ ” she whispered, blood pouring for her lips as her neck violently jerked. Tears smudged my eyes and I sobbed for the girl Natalia would never be able to be.

  
  
  



End file.
